Religious education - restoration of an abbey school in Seckau, Austria

Architectural Review, The, June, 1999 by Peter Blundell Jones

Monks in a remote monastery in the foothills of the Styrian Alps have attempted to achieve the best modern architecture, as their predecessors did in the eleventh and sixteenth centuries.

Seckau is the most important Benedictine Abbey in Austria. Sited in beautiful mountainous country some 840m above sea-level, it lies in the province of Styria 50km from Graz. Founded by the Augustinians in 1140, it was centre of the Styrian Diocese from 1280 to 1782, when it was dissolved on the order of Josef II. In 1883, it became the home of Benedictines fleeing from persecution in Germany. They rebuilt parts, and it has remained in their care apart from the Nazi repression of 1940-45. Since 1926, the abbey has run a school which now takes day pupils of both sexes, as well as boy boarders. Though maintaining high academic standards and preparing pupils for university, it also specializes in music and crafts, with an ethos dedicated to nurturing each individual and allowing him or her to realize their personal talents. Despite the monks' committed Catholicism and dependence on the authority of the Pope, the curriculum is neither overtly religious nor prescriptive. The school's prospectus claims that 'we try to convey essential values through teaching and especially in small groups outside the classroom, and to celebrate these agreed values in our communal life'.

The monks wear habits, share all possessions including in theory their clothes, and attend mass at regular hours throughout the day as the Rule of St Benedict dictates, but the abbey lives economically through its school, its schnapps distillery and its fine hotel-restaurant. Although Christian values differentiate it significantly from other institutions of the modern world, it must survive as a business like any other, selling its products and balancing its books. Any expected sense of remoteness and isolation - of other-worldliness - is quickly dispelled on meeting the abbey's young, vigorous and quick-witted bursar Father Albert Schlick, a monk who dresses in civvies for the outside world, drives around at high speed, uses a mobile phone and speaks fluent English. Voted in for his energy and vision by the predominantly older brethren, he cares as much for the future of the abbey as for its past, seeing the need for change and development.

As with most ancient monastic institutions, the 900 year old Seckau has many layers. The original Romanesque basilica church survives, but with a Gothic vault added around 1500 and a Renaissance cloister from 1588. As Diocesan seat, it grew in importance and a series of outer wings were added, enclosing courts. Most important was the Baroque west front, built 1625-28, and still enclosing the entrance court with Tuscan arcades as access galleries on its inner face. At the height of its political power, the abbey had a complete rim of outer wings and moated defences against possible Turkish invasion but, following dissolution in 1782, north-east and east wings were demolished along with their corner towers. When the abbey was adopted by the Benedictines in the late nineteenth century, a transept was added for liturgical reasons. The church's western towers were also rebuilt in a new form after the northern one fell in 1886. These alterations were made in a Neo-Romanesque manner, supposedly in sympathy with the original construction.

By the mid 1990s, substantial parts of the fabric were falling into disrepair and needed restoration, while the school's accommodation had become shabby. Cheap and shoddy furniture had been purchased over the years, marring the beautiful old rooms. More facilities were needed, and a general smartening up was required if the school's appearance was to reflect the quality of education it offered. The monks realized that a large investment would be needed, so made an appeal for money, also gaining a substantial listed-building grant from the State. In 1996 they held an architectural competition which was won by Volker Giencke. The virtue of his scheme was that it kept largely within the bounds of the existing buildings, while others suggested building a complete new wing. An unusual and far-sighted aspect of Giencke's engagement as architect was that he was asked to supervise all alterations including very minor ones, as Father Albert was aware of the thoughtless damage and erosion of general quality that results from getting a local builder to put in a partition here and a pipe there. On the required quality of the architecture he had no doubts: 'We have the best eleventh century, the best fourteenth century, the best Baroque architecture here: we must have the best architecture of today'.

Giencke began with minor alterations to the rooms along the north front, restoring windows, incorporating radiators unobtrusively, developing lighting schemes with fittings by the famous Austrian designer Bartenbach, adding new glass doors and purpose-made furniture. The policy was directness and simplicity in the modern elements along with faithful repair and conservation of the old. The additions seem relatively good-mannered and unobtrusive, letting the qualities of the older work shine through but leaving no confusion about what has been added.